Thinking About 9/11

Today we’re going to see a rash of tributes for September 11th. I think that’s beautiful and wonderful. My football team, BYU, is playing Houston tonight and they even have 9/11 tributes on their helmet with the American Flag incorporated into the logos. I love it. I hope we never forget the tragedy of that day.

Although, I can easily see why tragedies are too quickly forgotten. I’ll certainly never forget what happened that day because I saw it. However, my children weren’t alive and so they have no memory of that day. They just have the stories we tell them. In some ways, that’s a good thing. Our lives need to continue forward and we shouldn’t let a tragedy ruin our lives. However, just because we continue forward with our lives, it’s important to remember the lessons of that day. I’m sure those that experienced the tragedy of Pearl Harbor feel the same way. If it weren’t for a little help from Hollywood, I probably would still be pretty naive about what happened at Pearl Harbor.

As I think back on 9/11, what I remember most wasn’t the tragedy of lost lives and the terrible things that occurred (and they were indeed terrible). Instead, I remember most the way the country came together in ways I’d never seen before. There was a unity in the country that likely only occurs after tragedy. It’s unfortunate that unity dwindles away even faster than grief. The lesson I take from it is that service for a noble cause with friends and colleagues is a powerful way to unify people.

Excuse the personal side note, but I wanted to take a few minutes to remember. My thoughts are with all those who lost someone they love that horrible day.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

2 Comments

  • John, where did you see it from? I know I’ll never forget what I saw that day; from a south facing window on Greenwich Street several blocks away, then during our walk (no transit running for hours) from downtown to the Penn Station area. Walking by a bodega on 6th Ave and hearing someone say that the North tower had collapsed, and all the crowds of stunned and confused people on the streets. After about 2PM, on a LIRR train coming out of the East River tunnels and seeing the cloud of smoke in the distance. Getting home and turning on a TV just on time to watch #7 WTC collapse (presumably from the fire of the massive amounts of diesel fuel from Mayor Rudy’s emergency center). The following Monday morning getting off the subway downtown (having gone as far as I could towards my office), climbing out of the subway to find numerous roadblocks and a horrible smell in the air.

    From either a Financial IT or Health IT view, there was much to be learned that day. Lower Manhattan had huge problems with power shortages due to a destroyed substation, destroyed power lines. Also, most telecomm ran through the subfloors of WTC, causing huge outages for phones and data lines. Huge reminder about having viable generators and alternative paths for data and voice connections, and having adequate, well tested DR locations.

  • I was at work in a data center for the university I attended (I guess I’m showing my age). I remember sitting there and just totally focused on the news and what was happening. I remember looking at the other people working and wondering how they could continue working when something so major was happening. Although, after both towers collapsed, I was glad to go to a class and take some time off from watching the tragedy.

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